This invention relates to a method and apparatus for dispensing hydrogen within an environment with heterogeneous hydrogen requirements. The invention further relates to a network of hydrogen supply modules and corresponding method for managing hydrogen deployment.
The developing use of hydrogen as an energy carrier will require broad-based and flexible hydrogen supply systems to provide hydrogen efficiently to a large number of diverse hydrogen consumers.
Numerous hydrogen applications are being developed, including hydrogen-powered fuel cell or internal combustion vehicles, stationary power applications, backup power units, power grid management, power for remote locations, and portable power applications in consumer electronics, business machinery, and recreational equipment. Hydrogen dispensing stations will be needed for vehicle refueling, and smaller refill centers will be needed for portable devices such as computers, power tools, mobile communication devices, and other electronic equipment.
With the numerous hydrogen applications, warehouse distribution centers, airports, seaport docks, truck loading docks, offices, factories, shopping malls, sustainable towns and cities, and industrial environments will require a heterogeneous hydrogen supply environment. A wide range of power production devices, hydrogen storage technologies with different performance characteristics will be in use. In this complex environment, hydrogen will need to be supplied at different pressures, purities, and usage rates within the local environment. Hydrogen supply to several of these sites is further complicated because each of them has a unique usage pattern.
For example hydrogen fuel cells require a much higher purity hydrogen than internal combustion engines (ICEs) that run on hydrogen. Certain impurities, such as carbon monoxide in the hydrogen may poison a typical proton exchange membrane fuel cell but would have no negative impact on an ICE.
Hydrogen storage systems also have different hydrogen requirements. For example, metal hydrogen tanks store hydrogen typically at about 250 psia and have restrictions on impurities, for example less than 2 ppm carbon monoxide. Compressed gas storage tanks can store hydrogen up to about 10,000 psia and can accept higher levels of impurities.
Because the hydrogen volume requirements in these hydrogen applications will vary significantly and because the diverse hydrogen utilizers will be geographically dispersed, the logistics of hydrogen supply under normal conditions will be complex but manageable. Under abnormal conditions, however, hydrogen supply logistics may be especially complex and unpredictable. Abnormal conditions would occur, for example, when onsite hydrogen generators malfunction or are shut down for maintenance, or alternatively when local hydrogen demand temporarily exceeds local supply capability or storage capacity. There is a need to solve the problem of hydrogen management within the diverse heterogeneous hydrogen environment.
More specifically, there is a need for flexible and adaptable hydrogen supply methods to address these problems and supply hydrogen within a heterogeneous hydrogen environment and to address the interconnectivity of the various hydrogen utilizers within a heterogeneous hydrogen environment. Embodiments of the present invention, which are described below and defined by the claims that follow, address this need and offer flexible hydrogen supply alternatives for varied user requirements under both normal and abnormal demand conditions